The Sight Screen

For almost 20 years, I thought it was called the ‘side’ screen. It was today I found out that it was not. Watched the first day of the test match between India and Australia at the Adelaide Oval today. It was quite an experience with temperatures nearing 35 degree C and the harsh Australian sun.

In this weather and in these conditions, there was a time when there were two Australians at the pitch who had different sight screen requirements. The man at the helm of the screen was toiling throughout to adjust the screen bit by bit whenever the strike rotated.

As I looked closely, I noticed he had 2-4 different marks on the boundary board in front of the screen and he would adjust the screen accordingly. When one of the batsmen was dismissed, he dipped a cloth in water and rubbed the mark off.

I do not know why but this got me thinking. We need a sight screen in life. And we also need to continuously keep changing it, keeping in sight our goals and our focus. Many a time we will find it arduous to keep doing this, because it takes effort. But it is necessary.

Also necessary is to keep those marks in chalk, so you may rub them later. Nothing is permanent. What may seem like a life and death situation at this moment may not even matter some hours later. Yes, we need a good sight-screen. Fortunately or unfortunately, we are at the helm.